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Customer Reviews (30)

A review or something.
I've been a rabid Nick Cave fan for 22 years now; I discovered him as a teen punk with "The Good Son," immediately picked up all of his work previous to that masterpiece, and have bought everything he's done since, sometimes in multiple formats. Not long after, I heard about his first novel, "And the Ass Saw the Angel," bought it, and was blown away. Though I don't really believe in genius, his first novel, along with "The Good Son" and "The Boatman's Call," certainly come close.
My suspicion about "Bunny Munro" is that it's a purposeful attempt, much like his Grinderman output, to reconfigure his reputation as a masterful balladeer. Where the Grinderman music seems to be concerned with the relationship between sexuality and middle age, "Bunny Munro" plays a similar literary chord, except worse. Much much worse. This novel is to "And the Ass Saw the Angel" as the "Dante's Inferno" video game is to the original classic by Dante Alighieri. Plot development: minimal. Fully realized characters: none to speak of. Bunny and his son both undergo transformations toward the end, but in each case it's sudden and out of character. The end is hardly original, and reminded me of a particular film musical from the late 1970s. Avril Lavigne should be offended. Kylie Minogue should be offended. Women will hate it for its sexist, misogynist perspective. People with critical reading skills will find it a slog to read, as it appears that Mr. Cave did not use an editor. An earlier review mentioned "the ubiquitous 'or something'" phrase. The term "or something" when used in a literary text usually indicates the author's lack of interest in his/her subject, or his/her inability to express an idea more creatively. Cave's first usage occurs on the book's initial page: "...an escaped ape or something." The following page, one finds: "'...I get a little emotional sometimes,' or something like that..." Toward the end of Chapter 1: "...the war or something." If this sounds tedious, try reading it throughout the entire novel. He uses "or something" 67 times in 276 pages, which is about once every four pages.
As a songwriter, Nick Cave is in my Top Five, up there with Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, and James McMurtry. His first novel, "And the Ass Saw the Angel," is in my Top 20 novels of all time; it's flat-out brilliant. This book, however, is truly awful.

So disappointing, esp. for Nick Cave
Sorry, I loved And the Ass Saw the Angel and as a big Nick Cave fan I was predisposed to Bunny Munro.However, and to my surprise, I found it tedious and pointless.The main character is not interesting, and the story has no arc -- it's just a smear...If I needed to remind myself why I like Cave I'd read And the Ass again.That, like his music, is extraordinary.This is something else.

Absolutely Beautiful
This novel left me crying for hours, i couldn't peel myself away from it, and read it rather quickly. I feel that this novel touched a part of me that had been locked away for years. Nothing has hit this close to home and described the relationship that i had with my father. I feel this could possibly be the best novel of this generation.

Lonesome death of a dud man
Nick Cave novels are rare birds: his last, to my knowledge, was a mud-soaked piece of Southern Gothic depravity from 1989 called And the Ass Saw the Angel, in itself a brilliant, unhinged piece of writing and in its way a perfect companion piece for Cave's music which at that time was exploiting Leadbelly's romantic outlaw legacy and turning out albums' worth of excellent murder ballads, mined from Mississippi earth, and burnishing the reputations of collaborators as unusual as Polly Harvey and Kylie Minogue in doing so.

If it seemed odd that an Australian should be one of the most dogged and purist perpetrators of the American romantic tradition, that was only until you saw Cave's screenplay, The Proposition, which renders his scorched-earth Australia like tones and makes a case for a rival tradition.

So The (lonesome?) Death of Bunny Munro, as a title and yea, even unto about half way down the first page,sounded like it would follow the same furrow: a doomed travelling salesman - so much Arthur Miller - in a washed-up hotel room, in Brighton, eviscerating his distant wife.

But did you see the dissonance there? *Brighton*?

I flipped ahead, before purchasing, just to check this was in fact Brighton, Arkansas, or some other such remote, exotic and God-forsaken place. But no, this is good old Brighton, UK, present day. And Bunny Munro is no Willie Loman. And this is, aside from its wilful and exuberant sordidity, a very different sort of Nick Cave novel from his last one.

As a rock musician, Nick Cave is smarter than your average bear (not hard, admittedly: the playful and extensive vocabulary of his lyrics has always attested to that) and here, Cave's linguistic invention is always on top form. This novel is over written with great zeal: deliberately and enjoyably -a talented writer consciously using a technique for a particular end, as opposed to the more common over-reach of an amateur.

Though its content ranges from icky to downright repulsive, Cave's delivery is witty enough to make it always entertaining and frequently funny. Former collaborator Minogue again makes an appearance, but this time we laugh (gently) at Kylie's expense (literally, she is the butt of the joke), and Cave apologises to her in his afterword, and to Avril Lavigne, who fares far worse at Cave's hands than the Where Are They Now file she's currently inhabiting would say she was entitled to.

So, unless you have a profound respect for Avril Lavigne, form excellent. Not so convinced about the substance, however.

For one thing, Bunny Munro has no plot to speak of: it is a simple downhill slide into oblivion. I fancy Cave might see it as a tragedy (I can't for the life of me work out what other motivation he'd have), but a tragedy requires a flawed hero who refuses a path to redemption at his own cost. There's no such dynamic here. Bunny Munro has no redeeming features; he's irredeemable and (so sayeth the first words of the book), doomed. There's no moral to be heeded here.

Nor are other available characters used to their potential. A murderous sex fiend, dressed as a devil, rampages down the country drawing ever nearer to Brighton, in a clear metaphorical parallel. But, just when it might get interesting (is this Bunny's doppelganger? Is this Bunny's fate? Will they confront each other?) the devil figure drops out of the story.

Bunny's son, Bunny junior, has an eye condition which Bunny wilfully ignores despite the boy's gentle reminders - I guess something statically figurative about that - but the condition gets no worse over the course of the novel. Bunny is dogged by constant interaction with a particular fleet of well-named lorries, but short of making the obvious point that Bunny is destined to be a "Dudman", it isn't clear what the point of these was either.

Basically, this isn't a story, as such. It's an expiration; a ghastly but meaningless descent into oblivion which happens to be queasily enjoyable.

There is some significance to be drawn from the fact that Irvine Welsh, whose novels tend to be of a piece (Filth particularly), was impressed. If that sort of thing floats your boat (it doesn't mine) you might be also. Otherwise, outside Cave's core fan base, Bunny Munro is likely to be of passing interest only.

Olly Buxton

Not McCarthy but Hoban
I know a lot of people have been comparing this book to Cormac McCarthy's The Road but I think a better comparison is Russell Hoban's various non-Frances books such as Riddley Walker and A Mouse and his Child--especially the latter.Similar dark humor, characterizations and use of language to depict a semi-dystopian version of British working class ethos and both parody and sympathize with it.I look forward to his next; maybe we could follow Bunny Junior?That would be my suggestion. ... Read more

Product Description
Critic Roberta Smith has written about Chicago-based artist Nick Cave, "Whether Nick Cave's efforts qualify as fashion, body art or sculpture, and almost regardless of what you ultimately think of them, they fall squarely under the heading of Must Be Seen to Be Believed..." Meet Me at the Center of the Earth features sculptures that Cave calls Soundsuits, to evoke the sense of movement, rattles and rustles inherent in the design of the pieces-which are composed of manufactured and handmade fabrics, such as beads, sequins, bottle caps, old toys, twigs and hair, and seem poised to explode into ritual dance. Exploring issues of ceremony, ritual, identity and myth, they embrace various traditions, as well as cultural and historical references, from African fetish objects to Japanese Butoh dance. ... Read more

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Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth
Nick Cave is a brilliant artist. Meet Me at the Center of the Earth is the catalog for one of his exhibits. It is a feast for the eyes. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (10)

swallowed deeper into the wonderful world of nick cave
I was enthralled at the amount of information and research put into this biography. As with all books, my expectations are moderate in an attempt to not be disappointed with the text, but Bad Seed proved to be an excellent read! I love finding out new and interesting facts or details that in my many years of dedicating my time to the life and music of Nick Cave I have not come across. It keeps me hooked! The information chronicling the early years is fantastic as well. This was by all means a wonderful find for any Nick Cave fan!

Too long on dissipation...
I didn't realize that this was written in 1995, before I knew of his existence. In fact, it took Johnny Cash's Mercy Seat to find out who could have written such a thing... Well, he is one of about five contemporary musicians out there I consider a genious (others: Petty, Hiatt, Cohen, the late Zevon). Anyway, too many anecdotes about getting ripped and fighting and not enough about his creative process. Not nearly as good as "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: the Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon"). I look forward to a sequel: 1995 to present. He is a strange shaman I'd like to know more about.

Chas.

a little on the hard side
i love nick cave. but this book is written in a higher reading level than most so its a challenge.

Better Than Dax
Being a rather recently converted fanatic of the music of Nick Cave, I knew nothing about him and only tidbits about where he came from musically. I first read The Life and Music of Nick Cave by Maximilian Dax, but it was a very uneven bit of puffery. So, hungering for more information, I bought Bad Seed.
Bad Seed is not a bad book. While Ian Johnston is not the most eloquent writer around, he is much better than Dax. Bad Seed is well organized, informative, and at times very witty. And while this volume does not contain near the number of pictures that Dax's does, the photos it does have are germane to Cave's career.
Johnston's portrait of Cave's personality gives the reader a fresh understanding of what he is about. He charts Cave's growth from a brash and impetuous young rock shouter to the mature and nuanced performer he became. And I like some of the stories of some of his early riotous behavior. One that strikes me as humorous is the story of him playing at a street festival in Melbourne and his father coming unexpectedly to see him perform for the first time. Cave was rolling around in the gutter screaming into the microphone when he just happened to glimpse his father looking at him with a look of total bewilderment on his face. Picture that! Other stories of drunken revelry and drug crazed antics were equally amusing. But it is also refreshing to read how Cave took control of his life and drew back from the abyss into which so many performers fall.
In addition to his music, Bad Seed provides a look at his writing, his acting, and his twin obsessions with the Bible and with the degeneracy into which one can sink. One learns too, of artists who have influenced his songwriting and style. I knew he admired Lee Hazlewood and Johnny Cash from Dax, I had no idea he liked Karen Carpenter!
The only negative really is that Johnston spends too much time on Cave's early years and not nearly enough time on his life and music from Tender Prey forward.
If you are eager to know about Nick Cave, Bad Seed is a good place to start.

pretty good Bad Seed
Being that the author's brother guested as Bad Seeds guitarist on Lollapalooza '94, you might expect this unauthorised biography to be a whitewash.Yet a remarkably frank portrait emerges from the mouths of cohorts like Mick Harvey, Rowland Howard and engineer Tony Cohen.Gnarly drug stories come thick and fast.Like the Birthday Party gig in Zurich where the mike wasn't properly earthed so Cave got fried every time he touched metal--but was too f**ked up to notice.Or the time he shot up on the subway and then started scribbling out lyric ideas in his own blood with the needle.In all, it's a valiant attempt at nailing down this elusive crooner. ... Read more

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The lyrics of Nick Cave are some of the most admired work in contemporary music. This book includes all the lyrics recorded with his two bands, The Birthday Party and The Bad Seeds, up to and including the new album released in April 2001. ... Read more

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This anthology includes Cave's greatest hits arranged for piano, voice and guitar, with complete lyrics and guitar chord boxes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent purchase
Overall it is an excellent book for any fan of Nick Cave.The music is very accurate and it includes a lot of classic Nick Cave Songs.My only complaint is that there are a couple songs I think should have been included in this collection and a few I feel should have been left out. ... Read more

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Cave’s only novel to date takes on the southern gothic in thisbizarre baroque tale. Born mute to a drunken mother and a dementedfather, tortured Euchrid Eucrow finds more compassion in the familymule than in his fellow men. But he alone will grasp the cruel fate ofCosey Mo, the beautiful young prostitute in the pink caravan onHooper’s Hill. And it is Euchrid, spiraling ever deeper into his madangelic vision, who will ultimately redeem both the town and itspeople. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (68)

Dark and Not for the Faint of Heart
Euchrid Eucrow, a mute born to an abusive mother and a father obsessed with animal torture, is an outcast in a valley of conservative religious zealots. He silently takes his mother's beatings, his father's indifference, and the hatred of an entire town. But though he may be silent, his tortured mind is chock full of terrible angelic visions and he goes mad, leaving one to wonder if he can be blamed for the vengeance he exacts on the people who have made his life so awful and so painful.

Sometimes this book was a little hard for me to take, but I couldn't put it down.

Vivid, intense allegories, rain, plague, ingenious killer traps and the amazing innocence of youth
Book alive with vivid, intense biblical allegories told in first part in a rain-plagued dark world of desperation, cruelty and ignorance as seen through the eyes of a young misfit.As the men of the town club to death the whore-become-martyr, they in turn find she is pregnant with all their children, and as the angelic child is born, the rains end.Thus begins part two.And the Ass Saw the Angel is a book about transfiguration and cruelty in a world of desperation that one day experiences light.It is about the innocence of childhood and innocence lost; about abandonment and atonement.

a cultural touchstone
Mr. Cave achieves the almost impossible in this work: not insulting the reader. Take the most common literary comparisons, O'Connor and Faulkner, and there's something vital missing, and I'm certain that is J. M. Coetzee, specifically "the life and times of michael k." A masterwork of obscurity, this character study is solid, consistent, and worthy of any handy yardstick. It's conveniently impossible to empathize with Euchrid, and the discipline it took to pull this off is greater than it's given credit for; Cave jumps into the deep end in this anonymously southern novel without a life preserver, and the narrative bobs and lurches to survive drowning in filth and hatred to great effect.

The only reason I give this book five stars rather than four is that a major plot point is left delightfully unclear at the last second.

--spoiler follows: avert thine eyes--

Did Euchrid have sex with Beth or did she get pregnant by some other means?

A Staggering work of genius!
It is grotesque and difficult to read (some will tell you it could have been edited a little better and is full of typos). However, this is part of the books brilliance; narrated as it is by an illiterate mute. Whether deliberate or not on Cave's part, I thought it worked nonetheless.

Euchrid's (The protagonist) bile, anger and contempt vomits forth onto the page through a guttural, almost unintelligible Deep South narration; as cold, bitter and unkind as the world he inhabits. This is good old fashioned fire and brimstone. Themes from the Old Testament (and some New T.) run through the narrative of the book, with strong influences from Milton's Paradise Lost and Dante's Divine Comedy, all screamed at you by an angry street preacher in the vein of Ian Paisley.

Given the location for the story, comparisons with Faulkner have and will be made. However, to cast off Cave's book as a mere Faulkner imitation does not do justice to the complexity of the story, the writing or the work of either author. Cave's writing style paints a vivid picture of hell, exposes and lays bare the prejudices and hypocrisies of book's townfolk and builds to a crescendo of the righteous vengeance visited upon them

If you like your religious motifs delivered in an easy Hollywood fashion, you would probably be better off with a Dan Brown novel.

Dear Nick, Keep making records.
The greatest Vogon poetry ever committed to wood pulp.Cave takes great pains to fit that gargantuan head up his pontificating anus.Hence, the ass saw the angel, and vice versa.
To be fair, I did not finish the book.In fact, I've read only the prologue.But that small taste was enough to inform me that this was definitely not my cup of tea. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

WHAT A PIECE OF CRAP!
I'm a big Nick Cave fan, and a writer myself, and this book is not worth the paper it's printed on.Save your dough for Nick's cds.

Essential for Cave fans
Aside from being simply one of the greatest songwriters now working, Nick Cave has various literary aspirations. In addition to publishing a well-received novel (And The Ass Saw The Angel), he has also put out two books of collected works, this being the first. This contains all of his early poetry (which was heretofore nearly impossible to find), as well as all of his lyrics through Your Funeral, My Trial (including unreleased songs), a couple of short, one act plays, and a few other writings (including a piece on how he met Blixa Bargeld.) Cave fans will want this for its convenience of having all of his early lyrics in one place (it contains those from The Birthday Party, Die Haut, and all), and will treausure it for giving them more of Cave's works. This goes to show what a true talent Nick Cave is. Essential for all fans, and, even if you've never heard of Nick Cave, you may well be quite surprised and delighted at the quality of his work held within.

This book is exceptional.
This book gives a look inside Nicks' tourtured mind at specif moments of his life.It should be read by all who are interested in poetry, for someday he will be ranked amongest the great writers.

An amazing work from the mind of Nick Cave
I stumbled upon this book on a sale rack at a local bookstore, and it isworth much more than what I paid. There is poetry/lyrics, an essay, drama,and drawings. Nick Cave's work may not be appealing to everyone, but Istill think that he is an truly gifted artist.

A Beautiful Collection Of Nick Cave's Early Works
King Ink is one of the most eye-oppening collections of written artwork done by any living artist. I have been a fan of The Birthday Party and Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds for about a year and finding this book was the pinicle of understanding and relating to Nick Cave's writing. A must for any fan. Even if you aren't a fan, this book can still be appreciated in completion. ... Read more

Product Description
Nick Cave is now widely recognized as a songwriter, musician, novelist, screenwriter, curator, critic, actor and performer. From the band, The Boys Next Door (1976-1980), to the spoken-word recording, "The Secret Life of the Love Song" (1998), to the recently acclaimed screenplay of "The Proposition" (2005) and the "Grinderman" project (2008), Cave's career spans thirty years and has produced a comprehensive (and sometimes controversial) body of work that has shaped contemporary alternative culture. Despite intense media interest in Cave, there have been remarkably few comprehensive appraisals of his work, its significance and its impact on understandings of popular culture. In addressing this absence, the present volume is both timely and necessary. "Cultural Seeds" brings together an international range of scholars and practitioners, each of whom is uniquely placed to comment on an aspect of Cave's career. The essays collected here not only generate new ways of seeing and understanding Cave's contributions to contemporary culture, but set up a dialog between fields all-too-often separated in the academy and in the media.Topics include Cave and the Presley myth; the aberrant masculinity projected by The Birthday Party; the post colonial Australian-ness of his humor; his interventions in film and his erotics of the sacred. These essays offer compelling insights and provocative arguments about the fluidity of contemporary artistic practice. ... Read more

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THE DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND is the most significant book published to date on Nan Goldin (b. 1953), one of the most prominent and influential contemporary photographers. It contains Goldin's latest works alongside earlier classics, including images from new series such as ELEMENTS, 57 DAYS, STILL ON EARTH, and FROM HERE TO MATERNITY, many of which are published here for the first time. This book is an intimate and compelling photographic portrait, telling personal stories of relationships and identity while chronicling different eras and the passage of time. Goldin's photographic sequences are interspersed with texts, poems, and lyrics by prominent writers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Nan Goldin NOT Nick Cave
I'm still trying to figure out why Nick Cave gets top billing on this Nan Goldin book. I have to chalk it up to error. As the liner notes say, this is "the most significant and comprehensive book to date on the work of Nan Goldin". That's exactly what this is. If you like Nan Goldin you'll love this book. This is an encyclopedic volume of her images, has to be 1000 pages, it's massive. One of those books you can page through and see something new every time. My only gripe is that most of the photos are printed full bleed, some span 2 pages with the spine cutting them in half, like a magazine.

Great Purchase
I am so happy I bought this book, it was worth the time and money. I have it now on my living room coffee table, everyone who looks through it is spellbound. Thanks!

Nan Goldin's Magnum Opus
DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND is a lap-heavy, huge tome of the creative photographs of Nan Goldin, many of which have never before been published.Goldin is know throughout the museums of the world as a photographer who knows no barriers for her subject matter: AIDS victims, mental patients, transvestites, poor families, rural landscapes, constructed still lifes - these are but a few of the categories studied and captured by Goldin.For this full color volume Goldin selected the layout and the progression of sections, making the flow of the book even more fascinating; the book is one where she is both artist and curator and the result is a powerhouse of statement.

For devotees of Nan Goldin's work, this book is a must.And for viewers marginally approaching photography as an art form then look no further.A magnum opus of the work of one of America's more significant contemporary artists.

Devil's Playground
No other word for it except MAGNIFICENT!!! ... Read more

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A different slant.
This is a slight work.But it is the first I've read that attempts to address Cave as a multi-talented (especially literary) artist and not merely a goth/punk icon who puzzled critics with his intellectual depth and staying power.Though it is very short and in no way definitive, it does give a sense of his early evolution as an artist exploring universal themes.

Why, yes!I am a ponderous, over-educated ass... but I do recommend it.


Let Love in ... Read more

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Les achats comprennent une adhésion à l'essai gratuite au club de livres de l'éditeur, dans lequel vous pouvez choisir parmi plus d'un million d'ouvrages, sans frais. Le livre consiste d'articles Wikipedia sur : Nick Cave, Bon Scott, Rowland S. Howard, Andrew Gibb, Peter Garrett, Darren Hayes, Daevid Allen, Robert Forster, Dave Evans, Mick Harvey, Christine Anu, Wesley Carr, Nic Cester, Alex Lloyd, Harold Blair, Keith Urban, Colin Hay, Conway Savage, Neil Murray, Sam Sparro, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, Michael Hutchence, Troye Sivan, Slim Dusty, Johnny Diesel, Ben Lee, Adam Lopez, Jason Donovan, Archie Roach, Daniel Merriweather, Santo Cilauro, Anthony Callea, Joel O'keeffe, John Paul Young, Mick Hart, Nicky Bomba, Mark Boyce, Bernard Fanning, Rowan London. Non illustré. Mises à jour gratuites en ligne. Extrait : Nicholas Edward Cave, connu sous le nom de Nick Cave, né le 22 septembre 1957 à Warracknabeal (Australie), est un artiste pluridisciplinaire australien : ayant acquis sa notoriété en tant que chanteur, auteur et compositeur du groupe Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, où il exprime sa fascination pour la musique populaire américaine et ses racines, notamment le blues, il est en outre écrivain, poète, scénariste et aussi occasionnellement acteur. Il réside actuellement à Brighton, au Royaume-Uni. Nick Cave passe son enfance en milieu rural, dans la région céréalière de l'État de Victoria, d'abord dans la petite bourgade de Warracknabeal, puis à Wangaratta, une ville un peu plus importante. Il a deux frères aînés, Tim (né en 1952) et Peter (né en 1954), et une sœur cadette, Julie (née en 1959). Il grandit dans un environnement littéraire : son père, Colin, est professeur d'anglais et de littérature, tandis que sa mère, Dawn, exerce le métier de bibliothécaire. Ses parents, anglicans fervents, lui inculquent une éducation religieuse qui le marquera, comme en attestent les nombreuses références au sacré qui parsèment ses écrit...http://booksllc.net/?l=fr ... Read more

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In 1998 Canongate invited the finest modern writers, thinkers and public figures to introduce individual books from the Bible. Key to the unholy alliance of this project, that became known as The Pocket Canons, was the desire to view the texts as works of literature rather than doctrine. Launched alongside Philip Pullman's retelling of the Jesus story, The Gospels contains the King James texts of the four key Gospels, each one accompanied by a piercing, moving and highly personal response to the story it tells. Including: A.N. Wilson on The Gospel According to Matthew; Nick Cave on The Gospel According to Mark; Richard Holloway on The Gospel According to Luke; Blake Morrison on The Gospel According to John; and the King James Bible text of all four Gospels. ... Read more

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This second collection of Nick Cave's song lyrics and other writings covers the period from the ground-breaking album Tender Prey to the sublime simplicity of The Boatman's Call. In addition to all Cave's lyrics recorded with The Bad Seeds during this time, King Ink II includes several lyrics as yet unrecorded, as well as a number written for other artists and for the Wim Wenders films Faraway, So Close! and Until the End of the World. A short film treatment and a substantial essay on the subject of language and the Bible, "The Flesh Made Word", are among further material which is not available elsewhere. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

love this.
if you love Nick Cave youll love this i could read watch and listen to nick cave till the day I die and im sure i will....

Even If You Have All His Albums...
There is the beautiful book cover in purple, there are the lyrics printed in verse format...but mostly , there are the scrawling, handwritten notations of a [pick your adjective]

madman/poet/devout/philosopher/philanderer.

And the drawings Nick Cave makes...oh my, he seems to be at war with himself and that is Really interesting.You will enjoy seeing different lyric versions, and his writing in progress as things get crossed out and then re-written.This book is definitely a must have for the Nick Cave devotee.

Essential Cave, shows his growth
A big improvement over his first King Ink collection, this book shows just how far Nick Cave has come as a songwriter. Collecting his lyrics from his masterpiece Tender Prey all the way through his masterpiece The Boatman's Call, this shows Cave tackling broader subjects with an ever-more-eloquent pen, but staying "chained to the same bowl of vomit" as he puts it, returning again and again to the recurring themes of love, loss, God, and death. He delves deep into these themes in all their revertebrations. This book also includes lyrics to songs that have thus far remained unpublished, or were written for other artists, as well as a short "movie treatment." Also included is a manuscript of his essay "The Flesh Made Word", long adorned by Cave afficiandos, which probably makes it worth the price of the book alone for them, just being able to have a printed copy of this masterful essay. Reading this - you can also hear him dictate it on his CD, "The Secret Life of The Love Song/The Flesh Made Word: Two Essays By Nick Cave" - you can see why he was chosen to write the forward for a version of The Gospel According To Mark. Cave is a true talent, and this proves it. Essential for all admirers.

Brilliantly Twisted
Nick Cave has developed much since the publishing of King Ink volume I. A clearer style is developing, much different from the frenetic ravings in the previous book, a style more inspired by the recurring themes of lossand redemption. Some of Cave's beautifully crafted melancholy poems aresimply perfect down to the last detail, though his fiery passionate bitsare equally brilliant.

Bottom Line: If you like Cave and his newer style- go ahead. If you're into gloomy poetry, or just great use of language -go ahead.

Excellent
This second collection of Cave's lyrics shows his developing command of the language and broadening subject matter. ... Read more

Product Description
Explores the world of caves and describes the work of speleologists and cavers. ... Read more